New York/The Hague
Bolivian Senator María Lourdes Landivar, a PGA Member, shares her thoughts on the proclamation of the Gender Identity Law in her country on May 21, 2016.
We have taken a very important step in Bolivia towards equality and the protection of individual liberty. The adoption of the “Gender Identity Law” seeks to ‘establish the procedures for transsexual and transgender persons to change their name, their gender information and photograph in all public and private documentation linked to their identity, allowing them to fully exercise their right to gender identity.’ The law also incorporates definitions and requirements to make such changes.
In addition, the Law establishes a quick procedure to allow citizens making such modification to identify themselves ‘in accordance to how a person feels, lives and exercises their own experience among society.’ The quickness of the procedure helps to avoid long and discriminatory processes from people who believe they can judge or define how others ought to live and feel.
The Law marks a historic milestone towards respecting civil rights and the empowerment of individual liberties of our citizens, but above all, it shows a new path towards building a more just society, where our differences can join us to become a greater nation. This is the time to leave behind humanity’s dark ages. Today we are still experiencing it: deaths because of sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political ideologies; we need to build a more democratic world where all these differences, instead of divide us with hatred, allow us to know each other, to identify and learn to respect ourselves as human beings.
María Lourdes Landivar
National Senator, Bolivia
The Gender Identity Law can be consulted here (in Spanish):
http://www.diputados.bo/images/Docs/PL/LAprobadas16-17/PLA-095-16.pdf.
In addition to advancing gender identity laws that establish procedures for the change of name and sex/gender, parliamentarians can promote the right to gender identity in their legislative function. Parliamentarians have a fundamental role in efforts to promote and protect the human rights of all individuals through the effective execution of their legislative functions, their oversight of government policies, the approval of budget allocations and their leadership as democratically elected representatives by their communities. Several PGA members have supported in their national parliaments the enactment of gender identity laws that establish simple and transparent procedures for trans people to change their name and sex/gender in official documents and records to reflect their self-perceived gender identity.Publication
Advocacy Brief: The role of parliamentarians in guaranteeing the right to gender identity
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